


Vengeance I get

by Keenir



Category: Castle (TV 2009), Elementary (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Castle's writing habits, Crossover, Gen, Literature, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24367570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: Teamwork may make the dream work, as the saying goes, and it also makes things entertaining.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Holmestice Exchange - Summer 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [afteriwake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/gifts).



> "Vengeance I get." -Captain T.Gregson to Dr. J.Watson;  
> episode **M.**

"You okay?" Joan asked, noting the fire before him, the tied-together stack of hand-written letters beside him.

"I should be the one asking that of you," Sherlock said.

"You still can."

"Once I answer you, of course. You naturally aren't asking if I'm physically fine. I'm..."

As she listened to him provide an answer in as many words as she had fully expected him to, Joan recalled Moriarty's question to her, up on the top floor with the dead lying before them both. _Asked if that was my secret, if looking through the eyes of another, if learning to care... I probably shouldn't've, but I shared with her Sherlock's hope that she - like he - could metamorphose into a better self. She thanked me and asked me to sit with her for a minute before I walked her out and handed her over to the police and the FBI_. 

"And yourself?" Sherlock asked.

"Somehow, I know that this wasn't the last we've seen of her," Joan said, "but I'm not disappointed by it. We saved her daughter. And her."

"I confess to some surprise myself that she was still there when you arrived."

"That makes two of you. She asked if this is how it felt, doing what you do. I told her you'd have to tell her yourself for certainty, but that I supposed it was."

"Thank you, Watson."

_He says it with that twitch to his hands that I can see even in the firelight. I know he's conflicted that he didn't get asked to go up to see her one last time._

* * *

* * *

* * *

"You met Kitty?" Joan asked as Moran joined her at the Brownstone's kitchen.

"Winter? Yeah, we crossed paths yesterday," Moran said as he got a bowl and some oatmeal.

 _With my brother,_ Watson thought, _I'd joke that I don't see any blood and thus the meeting must've gone good. With Moran or Kitty, I don't know if no blood if a good sign or a bad sign - only that there was no mess._

"She asked," Moran said as he sat down. Seeing, from the corner of his eye, Joan's eyebrow move and her lips prepare to ask, he answered the inevitable: "Not surprised, no; that she asked or how she asked it. Not exactly askin' for an autograph, no; more..."

"More...?" Joan asked.

"Nah, can't be right." _Reminded me of some shy folks back in merry England, wanting to hire my services, but not sure how to get past making the first move of saying Hi and asking after my health._ "I'm getting paranoid in my old age."

"Maybe not," Joan said.

"More likely than not," Moran said. "Now, this guy you're tracking, my turn yet?"

"You really think you can trail him unseen?"

"Unseen's my job description.

"If you're sure about that -"

 _Funny._ "I'm thinking that this guy doesn't have irregulars as good as Holmes. Or as many."

"Which is why you're in reserve. Just in case. Any complications, and you're first in line." _But first I want to see if I can get Kitty to work with me here, see how - not if - I can help her._

"Tempting," Moran said.

"Speaking of, you haven't asked about the envelope."

"Nor going to. Things like that, they just get in the way."

"Oh?" Joan asked.

"I already know she's got a plan, and she's plenty focused. You hoping I'll stop her or that I'll help her?"

"I admit I'm curious to know."

 _That you are._ "The most I could get her to promise to, is a singlestick match this evening."

"Be careful."

"Keep this up, doc, and I might think you're worried."

"I am," Joan admitted.

"Aw. For me, for her, or...for the you know who Her?"

"Yes."

"Them two, loving their puzzles," Moran muttered.

"We're pieces in the game," Joan knew. "Question is, is Kitty on the board as well?"

"I got the impression Winter's using him as much as he's got her in his arsenal as well. No clue if Moriarty's _using_ her - can't help but know _of_ her by now, though."

Joan nodded. _For a woman who said kidnapping had too many moving parts for her taste, there are an awful lot of people who - No, don't follow that line of thought; avoid the wilderness of mirrors._ "Mind if I show up at the game?"

"Foodball's a game. Singlestick's a bit of exercise."

"Thats not an answer."

"Meh, probably not."

"And which is that the answer to?" Joan asked.

"Both. Winter knows I answer to you and Gregson, but if I show up with you in my cheering section, she may question me on just how short my leash is."

"Thats assuming I don't cheer her on."

"Mindgames. Never my favorite part of any job. Also why I'm not thrilled 'bout seeing if you have plans this evening."

"You want it to be just you and her?"

Moran gave a nod. "Got a hunch we're more evenly matched than we appear." Seeing Watson's grin at that, "Make a 'when can we expect a wedding?' joke, and I'll do a runner, even with Moriarty's promise to hunt me down if I try."

"I would never joke about that," Joan said.

Moran groaned.

"Just have fun and try not to get in trouble - either of you."

"Sooo...no pubs?"

Joan gave him a stern look.

* * *

"Moran was released in my absence?" Sherlock asked Marcus while they waited for the search program to turn up a result.

"You haven't heard?"

"Had I heard, I would not have asked."

"True," Bell granted. "Lets just say Moriarty has a sense of humor, and leave it at that," Bell suggested.

"Humour?" Sherlock asked. _Moriarty?_

"Joan really didn't tell you?"

"Watson and I have not been particularly verbose since my return. We each clearly have our mysteries for which the time to reveal has never been right."

"Riiight, well, this much, you'll need to know, since he's working for us as much as you now."

"The difference being I had a sober companion, whereas he has a parole officer?"

Marcus shrugged. _Not 'a', no. But close enough._ "Couple of days after you left, she sent us a note - said you and Joan impressed her, and she was curious. Appearantly, she pulled some strings somewhere, and had Moran released into our custody."

"To what end?"

"Moriarty said he was to help us find Leah Sutter's killer. And he did. After that, Moriarty went silent, and Moran kept helping. You ask me, Watson's keeping him on the straight and narrow, like she did with you."

"She is quite good that that."

Bell nodded. "Though, to be honest, I'm not sure if she's an Arsenal fan, or she just leaves their games on the tv when we do our routine checks of Moran."

Sherlock made exactly the look Bell had thought he'd make. "Everything else, you need to talk to Joan about."

* * *

Joining the two of them at their table, Kitty said, "Started drinking without me?"

"Only a bottle," Moran shrugged. _Strictly speaking, the doc never told me no pubs. Nevermind this lot call places like this a bar._

Looking Kitty up and down, Stoltz turned to Moran and said, "I don't know, man, she's barely got any meat on her."

"Excuse me?"

"She ain't the entertainment, she's picking up the check," Moran said. _Or maybe I'll pay; either way, though, this guy's nearly making this too easy for us._ To Kitty, "Be fair, you are a tad on the scrawny side."

"I'm wiry," Kitty said, then, "Why am I even...?" grabbed a bottle from the table, and sat in an empty chair opposite him.

"So you like meat on them bones?" Moran asked Stoltz as the waitress came over with chips.

"Exactly - like her," pointing with his half-empty bottle at the departing waitress. "Good'n'grabbable. Also, sorry," he said to Kitty."

 _Good to know you know that word,_ Kitty thought. "I thought you Americans were monogamists."

"I've got eyes," Stoltz said. "Besides, I'm not married."

"In a relationship, from what I hear."

"Jealous? I'm sure we can come to an -"

"Thought you weren't interested," Moran said before Kitty could use a straw, a soup spoon, or any other handy weapon. _She came right up to me earlier and said she was going to end a guy, and wanted to know if I wanted in. Probably not what the doc had in mind when she told me to find something to do with Winter, but, why turn down what'd at least promised to be fun entertainment._

"For a night's different," Stoltz said. "Besides, I've had wiry, though those wiry women had good grabbable spots."

 _I 'd swear I've just been insulted...I think._ "In other words," Kitty asked, "Your girlfriend has a better shape than I do?"

"We have fun, me an' her," Stoltz nodded. "You a cop?"

Moran snorted, which killed that line of inquiry dead.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," Stoltz agreed. "But, I don't know, something about her, reminds me of my girl when she was newly transferred to the station I work at."

"Fishing off the pier you work at?" Moran asked. "Lass must be a stunner to take that risk."

"Not really a risk. Sure, she's a Gregson, but its nothing I can't handle."

 _Gregson? As in...? Glad I volunteered to get this guy and make sure he didn't have any bruises en route to the pub here. Still..._ "Gregs? With a given name like that, I'm not so sure I'd net that fish, pier or no pier."

Stoltz grinned. "Gregson, my man, Gregson - her uncle's a Captain in another precinct."

Kitty smiled, and proceeded to make sure Stoltz kept digging himself deeper as the hours passed.

"How's your English?" Moran asked her at one point.

Kitty gave him a disbelieving look. "You did not just ask me that."

"Fine, your American."

"I am not telling you that I parked the car," she replied.

"Well I didn't," Moran said.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Next Morning:** _

"Mr. Castle?" Joan asked, meeting him and Detective Beckett in front of Beckett's place of work.

"I am," Castle said. "Joan, good to see you. Your parents said you were doing well, and I see they were putting it mildly. Kate, this is Joan Watson, the greatest surgeons turned private investigators our great nation has ever produced."

"Consulting detective," Joan and Kate both corrected him.

Seeing the man standing next to Joan, "And that means you must be Sherlock Holmes," Castle said. "I'll be honest, your mugshot is...well, it doesn't do you justice."

"Cameras add pounds. Thats part of why I don't like them much," Moran said.

"Most days, I agree. Now, right now, I need the help of the world's greatest consulting detectives."

"Are you in trouble again?" Joan asked.

"Why would you think that?" Castle asked. "I'm hurt, genuinely hurt that you think my motives are -"

"Yes or no."

"He's been a little cagey," Beckett agreed.

"Its a literary matter," Castle said, "which means -"

Joan said, "Which means yes, someone didn't like you putting them in your book. Again." _I'm just glad you didn't involve my stepfather in it this time. My parents have trouble saying no to you - I don't._

"Sounds like more than a few of our suspects from our initial year of working together," Beckett observed.

"Can I help if if people inspire me?" Castle asked.

"You don't do inspiration," Joan said. "You do self-insert fanfics."

"You wound me."

"Sounds like there's a line for that."

"What do you say, Mr. Holmes?" Castle asked Moran.

"If I were Sherlock Holmes, would I cop to it in front of a guy like you?"

"Thats not a No," Castle said.

"What exactly did you call us out here for?" Joan asked.

"A friend of mine - Thomas Molecraft - lost a first-edition of The Horror From The Heights," Castle said. "Not autographed, per se, but it does have a few notes written by Doyle himself."

"There a reward out for Sir Arthur's short story?" Moran asked. "I mean, aside from the warm feeling of a good deed done well."

_Unimpressed with that end of things - exactly what I'd heard of him,_ Kate mused.

Castle said, "Not just yet - he hoped we'd be able to find it before everybody found out how much it'd be worth." _Speaking of, the two of them - Joan and her friend - would be a good collaborative project for me and my good friend Watson. Granted, if the HEAT books do well, I can afford to pull out and leave the collaboration to him._

* * *

"Captain," Moran said, welcoming him into the brownstone late that afternoon.

"Thank you!" Kitty said to Gregson. "The other two are out on a case right now, and this one is making me watch an Arsenal match."

"Just don't go slagging -"

"No, slagging would be -"

_People who wish Joan and Sherlock would act like normal people, clearly forget what normal people are like - bantering, bickering, and all._ "I didn't come by to talk to the other two," Gregson said. "Just you two."

'You're welcome' stood on the tip of Kitty's tongue.

Moran shrugged. "We in trouble, guv?"

"No, but the video you left at the precinct has left Stotz in a load of hot water."

"What, because of one little confession?"

"Sometimes thats all we need."

Moran nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, knowing that from firsthand experience and from witnessing it.

"Are you here to request our testimonies?" Kitty asked.

"Nah, just personal curiosity," Gregson said. "See, the video tape and its file don't match the security camera that the bar had. And while that's strange, its not enough to get the charge against Stotz dismissed. Its almost as if somebody wanted to avoid court time for all involved, but didn't want anything getting dismissed for one reason or another."

"Or," Kitty said, "its as if somebody forgot to check the video camera."

_Excuse me, I was busy talking the wanker into getting a drink; can't have been me. Though I'd have done it, gladly,_ Moran thought.

Gregson smiled a little at that, but pretended he hadn't heard it - _frankly I'm surprised we haven't ventured into hypotheticals yet_.

"Are you and Hannah okay, Captain?" Kitty asked.

"We're fine," he said. "As an officer, I'm glad that things worked out and got resolved..." deliberately letting it trail off. "As a father, I'd love to thank the two of you for what you did."

"Not the first time I've taken someone out for drinks," Moran said.

"It might be mine," Kitty said. "Definately my first three-person drink."

"Welcome to the club," Gregson told her. "I don't know how you two did it," Gregson said, "and I don't want to know how you two did it."

"Hypothetically speaking," Moran said, "it was the best part of our day."

_Which could mean how long it took to set up and carry out, or could mean it was the most fun they had all day._ "Always glad to hear people enjoying law-abiding things they do." _Sure it skirts the fringes of legality, but as Stotz's Captain said, no laws were broken and Stotz wasn't entrapped._

"I told you I'd keep my nose clean, now that I'm working for Watson," Moran said.

"Good to know. Well, I gotta go. Tell Holmes and Watson I said Hi," Gregson said, heading for the door. _Got a feeling that, if it'd just been him at the door, Moran here would've asked for payment in me keeping Sherlock off his back when Moriarty shows up in town next - at least as much as anyone can control Holmes_.

* * *

"I'd really rather you didn-" Joan started to say to the person on the other end of the line. "Yes, I know he's the best friend you have, the guy you trust with almost as much as you trust Mom. I just...I'd rather you didn't collaborate with him on a project involving me and Sherlock. No, I did not say that. Thanks," she said gratefully. "Give my love to Mom, okay? Have a good - you two too," and hung up.

"Your stepfather?" Kitty asked.

"And the Captain before him," Watson said. "Tell me you didn't do what I think you did," Watson asked.

"Depends," Kitty said.

"On?"

"If you think I had an afternoon in the company of Moran and some of the not-so-finest members of New York's finest."

"Did you -"

"I really don't see the problem here, Watson," Kitty said. "You've been after me and Moran to work together with one another, and thats exactly what we've done. Did we do so without the proverbial crying into our beers, discussing and dissecting our motivations? Yes, yes we did. Personally, I'm of the opinion that thats exactly why our time together worked so well."

"I'm glad to hear that," Watson said.

Kitty waited.

Watson just stood there.

"You're not going to tell me to go out and try again?"

A little smile in the corner of Watson's lips, a bit of amusement that easily made it to her eyes. "I've been trying to get you to wade into the pool - and you just cannonballed in; you don't need to be asked...you'll do it again, in time."

_'In time'...that was always the case. But, I'm not going to argue the point, this time._ "Nice to know. So, this time, you want a drink?"

"So long as we don't discuss Blackpool," Watson said. "Or Blackadder."

"Perish the thought," Kitty said. As she and Joan threw on their jackets, "Nobody coming with us?" Kitty asked.

"Sherlock's doing something with his bees, and Moran's watching an Arsenal marathon."

"The brownstone could be robbed, and neither would notice. Or..." grinning.

Watson nodded, "Or they'd trounce the burglars soundly, without breaking eye contact or concentration from what they'd been doing," she agreed.

* * *


	3. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At Home With The Castles

EPILOGUE:

**_A Week Later:_ **

"How effusive was Mr. Molecraft when you and Detective Beckett returned the story to him?" Alexis asked.

"Oh exceedingly so," Castle said.

"Is that why him and Gran are out on a date, and the two of us are having cold pizza?"

"Partly. Also, you said you wanted cold pizza."

"I did. And I saw Mr. Watson today - he says Hi, and he asked me to tell you that he's got an idea for a novel, and thanks for the offer but no thanks on the collab."

"It happens. He happen to mention what his idea was?"

"Marine biologists in space."

Castle shrugged. "Watson doesn't want in, thats his call," Castle said to himself, _though really he's missing out._

_But maybe he was a little bit right: that the big story isn't in his stepdaughter and the consulting detective she works with...maybe its the pair who work for her. What were their names?_

"Dee, I think," Alexis said when he put the question to her. "The big guy - Moran - called her that."

"Dee Winter?" Richard asked. "Thats almost begging to get taken to court by The Three Musketeers. Dee Summer, maybe, instead?" As Alexis sighed and returned her attention to her homework, her father continued "Or, better, Summer is her given name - don't want the Buffy fans baying for my blood either. Moran, thats almost...hm, morning or mourn?"

_The more things change, the more things stay the same_ , Alexis mused. _Still, dad gets along with pretty much all of the people who've inspired him...to one degree or another_.


End file.
